Infrastructural dependency in the datafied welfare state

The case of Google Chromebooks

Bibliographic Data

ID21785481
AuthorsLucas Cone (0000-0001-7190-497X, University of Copenhagen, corresponding author), Signe Sophus Lai (0000-0002-7903-7994, University of Copenhagen)
Year2025
Volume50
Issue1
Pages44-60
Publication date2025-01-02
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLearning Media and Technology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1743-9884 • E-ISSN: 1743-9892
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/17439884.2024.2437680
OpenAlexW4405523463
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited46

In January 2024, the Danish Data Protection Agency issued a landmark ruling, challenging the integration of Chromebook laptops in Danish public schools under the EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). This article presents a study of the Chromebook case to explore the entanglement of commercial tech infrastructures and welfare state principles. Drawing on studies of rentiership and educational privatization, we analyze five types of lock-in at stake in the Chromebook case. In different ways, these lock-ins are suggestive of an infrastructural dependency in the datafied welfare state which, we argue, points to a pervasive democratic deficit in the digitalization of public domains, whose consequences reach far beyond the lack of privacy regulation and data control stipulated in the Chromebook ruling

Corporate governance · Danish · Data Protection Act 1998 · Democracy · Economics · Law and economics · Management · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Welfare · Welfare state · Computer Science · Digital Economy and Work Transformation · Digital Platforms and Economics · Engineering · Ethics and Social Impacts of AI · Law · Public Administration

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